Capacitor fell off videocard...

honestly to be safe i'd get EVGA to replace it. I just speak from experience. One fell off my old 7800GT card i got from EVGA (another long story) and i freaked out but was suprised the card ran fine. About a month down the line the card freaked out and died on me. When i took it out and searched the card's body for anything out the ordinary i noticed a burn mark smudge around the area the capacitor fell off. This in no way speaks to the quality of EVGA cards cause the card was actually mishandled which lead to the capacitor coming off. I sent it back to EVGA and thank the heavens for thier lifetime warranty plan cause I was sent back a new one. It may work now but down the line the card may die on you. I'm sure you may get other different responces but i speak only from direct experience. I would get the new card now before all the new games come out. Imagine you having to wait for a new card to arrive just as Crysis is released. Let that thought scare you into doing the right thing  

If you can get it replaced do so immediately. This will mean a slow but premature death for your vid card. I'll give it 3 weeks til boom (just a guess   but it's gonna die).

Get it serviced immediately.

I don't think video card manufacturers are in the habit of putting additional unused CAPs on the PCB for the fun of it. Get it fixed.

A plane that looses a wing still flies until it hits the ground, GET YOUR CARD REPLACED.

Send the card back right away. I wish this forum had a trophy for funniest question of the week, you'd have my vote  

The capacitor does something. It was not on the card for decoration.

Replace soonest.

     

Thanks for the help everyone... the point has been made quite clearly  

Fun story, I've already lost one capacitor due to clumsiness, I soldered it back on. I figure my solder-job invalidated the warranty... oh well. Time to bust out the solder-kit again.

Another fun story, I think I lost the capacitor in question too. I'll have to grab one that matches the old one.

-sigh-

That doesn't make sense that your card still works w/o that capacitor.

Just resolder it onto the card? Nothing different than the manufacturer would do...

I had cap that fell off on my Radeon 9600 i was moving card to new comp and knocked it off , i re solder it back on, just have to be sure to find exact spot where cap fell (there wore like 4 more empty places that can fit cap, from factory) and match polarity, Card still works on my old PC  

Um...what part of "Lifetime Warranty" is not clear. GET IT REPLACED. You do any more soldering and your gonna void your warranty. Call EVGA, get a RMA number and ship that crap off.

Just run it till it dies then you have an excuse to buy an 8800GTX.

That's what I was thinking.

But, owner solders = no warranty
eVGA solders = lifetime warranty

Just a thought

LOL that was great

           

We should have the message rating feature back, I'd give him 5 stars  

not really.

it probably is part of a filter array and nothing is getting close to what it is supposed to be filtering out.

To those saying send it to EVGA, I foolishly killed the warranty when I soldiered something on a few months ago. Unless you guys think they would accept it anyways... perhaps I should shoot them an e-mail?

Besides, soldering it on myself is easy enough. It's not like I have any other options.

Heres the missing capacitor:
http://img231.imageshack.us/my.php?image=e79gt1qt1.jpg
Any 7900gt experts know the function of that particular one? I'm just curious.

Terrorists... all of you!

The function of this capacitor would most likely be to stabilize some current. It is near the power con. That's why it might have no immediate effect... But it could be fatal to your card under certain conditions. soldering it back in should be no problem. If you're good with soldering no one would realize, unless they look very closely. Just be sure to mount it the right way.

But if it's still under warranty I'd RMA it...

I am concerned that the capacitor "fell off" in the first place. There is no way a properly-soldered component should be able to be easily knocked loose. Was it an aluminum electrolytic cap (cylindrical & silver)? Tantalum (usu. rectangular resin case w/metal terminals on end), or ceramic chip (usu. small & gray)? What did the solder pads on the board look like?

If the cap was soldered firmly in the first place, knocking it off could damage the internal structure of the device. Merely soldering it back in place could have the same effect as leaving it off - or even worse.

Engineer's opinion: if it's in warranty, send it back. What have you got to lose? Seems like there's no downside. . .

Yep; you should document the soldering. Take very good pictures and confront the manufacturer with that. I suppose you'll get an "extra" for not publishing the pics 

the card still works is not a surprise! you need to understand what capacitors do. they store energy until needed or absorb excess. thats why it may work for awhile til that energy damages the card.

The energy still has to span the gap where the capacitor connected.

dosnt evga's warrenty say tat u can only return it if there's no damage to the pcb? and isn't the capacitator part of the pcb? just wondering cause the same thing happend 2 me wit a 7950gt and i've been runnin it for 3 months!

My EVGA 8800 gts 320 blew up...literally. boom, smoke and sparks. Luckily they replaced it (after 2 months, damn hippies). Oh well. At least they replaced it.

Get it replaced and send it overnight (the extra $$$ is worth it if you need the card back asap).

Ciao.

Absolutely priceless. LOL

Sorry to laugh about your misfortune, but your rhetoric is outstanding.

Hilarious.

Also, eVga's warranty does not cover visible damage or missing parts to the card.